CBHFA or Community-Based Health First Aid is a succession from CBFA (Community-Based First Aid) which was first introduced in the 1990's to better respond to ‘improving the situation of the vulnerable people’ by using a community approach through RCRC Volunteers. Now, it has been added value to cater for a wider scope to include disease prevention, health promotion, first aid, disaster preparedness and response in order to meet the needs of the community at large. This program is based on volunteerism and community ownership in order to ensure sustainability.

In the recent workshop, facilitation skills of delegates from SEA RCRC and IFRC from Central Asia and Africa were further polished to provide better impact on behavior changes and “learning by doing”. The workshop was held in Jasmine City Hotel, Sukhumvit 23, Bangkok, Thailand from 20-26th April 2009.

It was officially opened by the Director of The Thai Red Cross, Lt. Gen. Dr Amnat Barlee and Mr Stefan Kuhne-Hellmessen, Tsunami Recovery Programme Coordinator who represented IFRC Regional Delegation in Bangkok.

In total, there are 24 delegates from eight (8) National Societies, three (3) donors National Societies, and six (6) International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) representatives.

In this workshop, the delegates have worked through the new CBHFA in action Volunteers Manual, Implementation Guide and two volume of the Facilitators’ Guide, and will be putting into practice by implementing CBHFA in their National Societies through sensitization, Training of Trainers of CBHFA Facilitators in Branches and followed by Community-Based Training.

With this new CBHFA in Action, MRC volunteers and staff will work hand-in-hand with the Government Agencies, related supporting agencies, partners, donors and the targeted community who will benefit from it. It is hope that well trained members of the community will be able to alleviate the affects of disaster or life threatening emergencies in their own neighborhood.